As is well known in the art, vibratory conveying equipment has been developed to satisfy a wide range of diverse applications. It is oftentimes the case that a system for handling any of a variety of different materials will include, as an integral component, a vibratory conveyor for conveying the material from a first to a second location. At the second location, there may be a need for distributing the material rather than depositing the material at a single point.
In one particular application, a vibratory distribution conveyor may be advantageously utilized for handling sprue which is a necessary byproduct of production in a foundry. The sprue is a crude, irregular waste material that may not be readily susceptible to being conveyed to a single point for later handling for recycling. On the contrary, the nature of sprue is such that it should be conveyed and deposited in a distributed manner rather than conveyed and deposited into a pile at the end of the conveyor.
More specifically, the sprue may have sharp and irregular edges and may be of different sizes and shapes. It is easier to handle the sprue if it is conveyed from a first location to a distributed handling location, i.e., a location where it is longitudinally separated. Unfortunately, there has been no such vibratory conveyor capable of doing this in an acceptable manner.
While the requirements for the handling of sprue are described herein, it will be appreciated that there are many other material conveying operations that may have similar requirements. It is well known in the vibratory conveying field that many materials must be conveyed from a first location to a later-handling location in a manner that can be most expediently accomplished utilizing a vibratory conveyor. In most if not all such applications, it is necessary or desirable for the transfer of the material from the first location to the later-handling location to be accomplished in a suitably controlled manner.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the foregoing problems and achieving one or more of the resulting objects.